


The Earthling

by sirtalen



Series: The Martian - Coming Home [2]
Category: The Martian - Andy Weir
Genre: Drama, Gen, Recovery, Slice of Life
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2018-08-03
Updated: 2018-08-07
Packaged: 2019-06-21 06:29:56
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 2
Words: 1,454
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/15551712
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/sirtalen/pseuds/sirtalen
Summary: Just because Mark is home doesn't mean his troubles have ended.





	1. Chapter 1

Log En-- QUIT THAT!

 

**January 1st, 2037**

 

 

Sorry, gotta start over. New Year, new set of log… _journal_ entries.

 

Yeah, I'm keeping up with this. Back on Mars it was the only way I kept myself sane and organized during the long periods where I had no communications with Earth. During the trip back, it was my way of decompressing from my struggles to survive on Mars. Now… Well it's a habit. Also I've got more, if less life-threatening, shit to deal with, and better to vent here than mouth off to someone's face.

 

First off, remember that bit at the end of _The Hobbit,_ where Bilbo comes home and finds his asshole relatives had declared him dead and were trying to sell off all of his stuff? I kinda got the same problem After NASA declared me dead, my parents had to figure out what to with all of the stuff I'd put into storage prior to me leaving on _Hermes._ Some sentimental items they kept, a few personal effects went to the Smithsonian, and my papers (such as they were) went to the University of Chicago. The rest, well, they sold it off. Why not? No sense in letting my old dinette set sit around gathering dust and reminding them about their dead son.

 

Then two months later they got news that I was alive, and they've been scrambling ever since to get it all _back_. They stuff they donated to the Smithsonian and the UC was easy. Shit they sold on Ebay was a harder. I don't know why some memorabilia enthusiast would be so hot to own my vintage GenCon t-shirts, but they don't want to give them up. Okay, I can live without the shirts, but _dammit,_ I paid good money for those 6th Edition and _Pathfinder_ books, and I want 'em back!

 

Then there's more serious stuff. After i was declared dead, my parents also got the payout from my life insurance. And two months later after I was found alive again, the insurance company wanted it back. Which was a bit tricky for them, given no company wants "Harassed the parents of a world famous Not Quite Dead Astronaut" on their list of accomplishments at the annual stockholders meeting. Since it wasn't a sure thing that I'd make it back alive after being discovered, they settled on letting my parents keep the money until my survival was assured. Which means the day after I landed they served my parents with the lawsuit paperwork.  Assholes.

 

NASA's legal reps tell me they're working with the insurance company to fix things. They damned well better. Because otherwise once I'm strong enough to get out of this damned wheelchair I'm gonna show them how we take care of this sorta thing in Chicago. Which would be to sue 'em right back!

 

What, did you think I'd whack 'em with a baseball bat? I'd get arrested!

 

In happier news, I've been eating my fill of food. _So much food._ Steak, burgers, ham, chicken. Oh, and Chicago style pizza flown _from Chicago,_ made by Pizzeria Uno (the original, not those franchise places). _Real_ pizza, made as thick as a manhole cover and twice as heavy. And it was all d _elicious._ Christmas dinner with all the _Hermes_ crew, their families, and my parents was probably one of the best days of my life, after my rescue.

 

Also, fresh air. There's a little fenced off garden area at the Recovery Center. With Florida's mild winter temperatures it's no problem going outside even in December. The first time they wheeled me out I just… I just started _crying._ Outside, without a spacesuit, breathing air that wouldn't kill me, feeling the sun on my face without a visor between me and the warm rays. It was the best feeling in the world. It still is.

 

Getting choked up again. More tomorrow.


	2. Chapter 2

**January 3rd, 2038**

 

Bit of a sad day. All of the crew got sprung from the Recovery Center today, except me. I'll be on my own for another five days while I finish my recovery and rehabilitation. Commander Lewis and the rest of the crew talked about sticking around so I wouldn't be on my own, but I told them not to be stupid. They've been away from their families for nearly three years, and it's not like I can't see Mom and Dad every day while they hang out in Florida with me.

 

Vogel especially had to get out of here. His mom is still alive for now, barely, but she's in a coma. If the _Hermes_ hadn't made the Rich Purnell Maneuver, they would have made it home in plenty of time for him to see her before she lost consciousness, and she might still have been able to recognize him. (Of course I'd be, y'know, _dead_ ). We all could see him trying to keep up the stoic German thing while we were being checked out by the doctors, but I knew he was in agony about it.

 

At least Martinez is doing better. I didn't see him when he was reunited with his little boy David after we'd landed, but he was looking pretty down when we met in the Recovery Center's common room later. How the hell must it feel to arrive home, the baby you'd left behind now a little boy, who doesn't recognize his daddy? He's gradually reconnected with the kid, but it took a few days (the ice cream party Christmas Eve helped).

 

Makes me glad I'm single. Though apparently there's a great many women who'd like to correct that, at least going by the messages on my Facebook page. A remarkable number of them appear to be both Russian, and clones of each other, at least going by the pictures on their (otherwise blank) home pages.

 

All of this pales beside me having to deal with Lewis and her self-imposed guilt trip over leaving me behind. She's been pretty much second guessing every decision she made during the entire mission, in anticipation of the inevitable Congressional hearings about the accident that left me behind on Mars. A typical conversation with her goes like this:

 

LEWIS: It was a storm. I should have made sure we were all roped together for safety while we made our way to MAV.

 

ME: We didn't have any rope.

 

LEWIS: We could have made some from Hab canvas, like you did.

 

ME: And by the time we finished that, the MAV would have fallen over.

 

LEWIS: Or we could have used …

 

ME: Listen, even if we were roped together, I would have still gotten speared by the com antenna, and then you would have had to figure out whether to stay on the ground while Beck stitched the wound shut, or launched with the rod still sticking out of me. Want to take bets on how the first zero-g emergency surgery in history would have gone, inside that dinky cabin?

 

LEWIS: But…

 

ME: You made the decision you made with the information you had. Every bit of data at that moment said I was dead, okay? If you had stayed and kept looking for me, then either Martinez would have launched, leaving us both behind without enough supplies or potatoes to hold out until Sol 549, or worse, the MAV would have tipped, everybody else would have died when the fuel tanks cracked open and exploded, and we would have _still_ been stuck on Mars.

 

LEWIS: ...yes.

 

ME: We're done this conversation. Seriously this time.

 

LEWIS: Okay.

 

I know she was just decompressing after commanding what had to be the most nerve wracking mission since Apollo 13 but _Christ_ it drove me nuts. I'm honestly a bit glad she's gone back home now. Seriously, she was even talking about how she should have done the spacewalk herself, instead of letting Beck, our _EVA specialist_ , do it. Which would have been nice and dramatic, but stupid.

 

Speaking of Beck, and Johanssen, at least they're still getting along well. They let the rest of us know on the QT that after spending a couple of weeks with their respective families, they're going to publicly announce their engagement. Which is great for them, and also kinda nice for me. I'm looking forward to the press getting off my back and finding something else to talk about. After the press conference disaster on the way home from Mars, no one has suggested me doing a Q&A again at least.

 

Hmm, I wonder if I could set up an AMA on Reddit though. Something to think about.

 

Anyway, I've got a doctor hovering over me to get back to work walking the parallel bars. More later.


End file.
